The Ethical Marketing Charter – the first industry-led initiative of its kind – has marked the one-year anniversary of its launch – going from strength to strength in its first year and securing over 60 signatories from across the personal injury sector to commit to never cold calling, never trading in accident data nor using misleading advertising.

Hodge Jones & Allen along with National Accident Helpline and six inaugural signatories launched the Ethical Marketing Charter in July 2015 to promote ethical and professional marketing practices, stamp out bad practice by rogue operators and ensure consumers were better protected.

Throughout its first year, the Charter has secured over 60 signatories. The industry-led initiative also secured endorsements from leading industry bodies and hosted a high-level parliamentary roundtable in October 2015, following which former Shadow Culture and Digital Economy Minister Chi Onwurah MP said “industry-led initiatives such as the Ethical Marketing Charter will help to create clear water between ethical and unethical businesses”.

Through taking a public stand against unethical marketing practices and challenging others to follow suit, the Ethical Marketing Charter has been instrumental in raising awareness of nuisance marketing. The Charter’s first year has seen government and regulators take decisive and much-needed action to address these important issues for the benefit of consumers, with the Insurance Fraud Taskforce recommending that regulators work together to tackle cold calls and the Claims Management Regulator revising its guidance to require consent to share consumer data to third parties for marketing purposes.

Commenting on the anniversary of the Charter, Vidisha Joshi, Head of Personal Injury at Hodge Jones & Allen, said:

“With a rich heritage of campaigning on the issues that matter most to our clients, we were delighted to sign up to the Ethical Marketing Charter. It’s very important that the sector stands up against disreputable businesses that tarnish the personal injury market. Equally, it sends a strong message out to our clients about how we operate and what we believe in.”